Rameshan Oru Peralla Movie Review

Synopsis: It is the first day of Rameshan as an online taxi driver when he encounters different kinds of people as his passengers. As the hearing impaired driver slowly begins to like his job, a young group comes in to give him a shocker. Will he be able to deal with it?

Story: Life of a taxi driver is no picnic. In just one day he sees many lives and places. Dealing and coping with temperaments of each passenger isn’t an easy task. Debutant Sujith Vigneshwar, explores the unseen side of the lives of taxi drivers, whom we all have seen at least once in our lifetime.

It is Rameshan (Manikandan Pattambi)’s first day as an online taxi driver. He suffers from partial hearing loss and uses an aid to listen to the worlds around. The innocent villager is a bit tensed about operating his phone and getting passengers for his cab. However, with the support from his family and friends, he starts his journey as cab driver. In just half a day, Rameshan meets a variety of people including a communist party leader, an aspiring actor, a recently divorced woman and two friends. As Rameshan starts enjoying his job and slowly attunes himself to the technology, a bunch of youngsters gets into his cab. The youth, in a mood to have fun, brings an unexpected twist to the entire tone of the movie. Rameshan ends up being tangled in the clutches of law, while the rest figure out loopholes to escape.

At a time, when we see even the bureaucrats using escape clauses in the Indian constitution to save themselves from the crimes they commit,Rameshan Oru Peralla becomes timely. Here, the selfish youth, who have never taken life seriously puts an innocent soul behind bars simply to remain flawless before the society. The movie questions on where are we heading?

Manikandan Pattambi who has mostly played sidekick roles in movies and also known for his comedic role in TV soap Marimayam redefines himself seemlessly as a highly talented actor. He has very well portrayed the complex character of Rameshan who suffers hearing loss. There are moments when through subtle expressions, he even makes the audience feel his helplessness. Actors such as Rajesh Sharma, Shyam Reji, Devendranath Sankaranarayanan, Shylaja P Ambu, Lakshmi Sree, Mini IG, Jijikuttan and Suresh Prem prove that even a single shot is adequate to touch their audience’s minds. Divyadharshan who leads the youth gives a decent performance compared to his earlier films. However,the youth and the advocates failed to match the standards of the rest.

The flaws in the movie can be easily ignored considering the intriguing storyline, interesting background score and suitable cinematography. The film draws light to the complacent nature of contemporary youth and their excess use of drugs.

It takes immense courage for a director to mark his debut in Mollywood with small time actors and releasing it as a commercial cinema. The film clearly indicates that there are many yet-to-be-identified actors in Mollywood who are being sidelined. Sujith Vigneshwar deserves an applause for bringing such talents to the forefront, making a movie with zero masala and a socially relevant story.

If you need no big stars, just a good film to beat the rains, go for it.